Memorial day - 32

Walking east along Fleet Street, towards St Paul's Cathedral, you might miss the entrance of a number of passageways. These are relics of old London. Between Oliver Bonas shop and Ye Old Cheshire Cheese is the entrance to Wine Office Court. Walk along the passage and you come to Gough Square, one of a maze of courtyards and passages that are a reminder of historic London. Standing in the north west corner is Dr Johnson’s House, one of the few residential houses of its age still surviving in the City of London. Built in 1700, it was a home and workplace for Samuel Johnson from 1748-1759, and it was there he compiled the first comprehensive English Dictionary.

Standing in the square on plinth is a 50 cm high bronze sculpture of a cat, by Jon Bickley. Dr Johnson's cat Hodge, sits on his masters dictionary, before him is an oyster shell - the contents of which we must assume he has consumed.